Principal held for thrashing six college students at Thane college

The incident occurred on Friday afternoon at Industrial Training Institute (ITI) College, Thane after the man spotted the youngsters playing on the ground during lectures

Six students of Industrial Training Institute (ITI) College, Thane, were subjected to unlawful beating at the hands of their own principal on Friday.

The students were allegedly playing on their college ground on Friday when they spotted PP Bhavsar approaching them with a bamboo stick in hand

The principal, PP Bhavsar, allegedly spotted the students playing cricket at the college ground during lectures and reprimanded them. The youngsters, who suffered from injuries on their hands and backs, were then rushed to Thane Civil Hospital for primary treatment.

Later in the day, their parents filed a complaint at the Srinagar police station, following which Bhavsar was arrested under sections 323 and 324 of the Indian Penal Code.

What was the incident?The victims, Vijay Mandavkar (19), Sandeep Shirke (17), Pravin Kamble (18), Bhushan Bhangar (19) Suraj Mokashi (20) and Sandip Pisal (17), and 10 other students were allegedly playing on their college ground on Friday afternoon when they spotted Bhavsar, approaching towards them with a bamboo stick in hand.

“All of us tried to escape. But the principal caught hold of six of us and took us to the college workshop. There, he started beating us up. He even slapped one of us so hard that his ear started hurting,” said Bhangar. Parents of the children were outraged by the incident and demanded immediate suspension of the principal. “Beating them mercilessly with a dangerous object is very brutal. Nobody has a right to physically assault the children so violently.

It’s totally unacceptable,” said Mohan Kamble, one of the parents.

The students immediately rushed to Srinagar Police station to lodge a complaint but the inspector advised them to visit Thane Civil Hospital for necessary treatment and medication.

“They had several injuries on their arms and shoulders. We gave them basic first aid and sent the reports to the concerned police station,” said a doctor on condition of anonymity.

AY Sawant, a police sub inspector from Srinagar police Station, said that the accused was arrested on Saturday afternoon following the FIR filed by the victims.

“We investigated the matter on Friday after the students came to us to file the complaint. We arrested Bhavsar under sections 323 and 324 of IPC for causing hurt with intent to do so,” said Sawant.